Whoosh!
That faint glimmer of ghostly blue light tore through the forest's last trace of fortunate air and shot straight at Cheng Xi's brow! Fast! So fast that even thought had no time to grasp death's trajectory! Cold killing intent, like a tangible needle, pierced his fading consciousness first.
The Yin Yang School? Or Lu Buwei sending someone to silence him? Only that thought flashed through Cheng Xi's mind. The Corpse Fiend Ghost Qi behind him was like starving wolves that had caught the scent of blood, madly eroding his meridians. The Jianmu Fragment's vitality was merely a drop in the bucket, barely able to protect his heart meridian. At this moment, moving even a finger was harder than climbing to heaven, let alone evading this premeditated killing blow!
Yan Lingji was at his side, both hands still tightly gripping the Qingping Sword Sheath as she attempted to guide that life-saving strand of sword intent. Her pale face was twisted by intense pain and spiritual power depletion. Her eyes remained shut, utterly unaware of the deadly ambush from the external world. The cloud patterns on the sheath flickered unsteadily, its faint blue-white glow reflecting off her bloodstained collar. She looked as fragile as a candle in the wind.
A dead end!
At the critical moment, the Corpse Fiend Ghost Qi rampaging within Cheng Xi unexpectedly produced some bizarre instinctive reaction after being stimulated by the extreme external killing intent!
[Warning! External high-dimensional energy attack locked onto target! Corpse Fiend Ghost Qi initiating stress-induced defensive contraction! Objective: protect the invaded host (instinct)! ... Energy Counterpoint Node prediction: Yintang Acupoint! ...]
The system's warning was so shrill it nearly tore apart his sea of consciousness! Just as the ghostly blue poisoned needle was about to pierce through his brow—
Hum!
At Cheng Xi's Yintang Acupoint, dense blackish-gray energy carrying decayed death qi surged back from the depths of his meridians like a ferocious beast provoked into fury! It was not under his control at all, but the instinctive defense of curse-level ghost qi when its "territory" was invaded!
Sizzle!
The ghostly blue poisoned needle plunged viciously into that suddenly condensed barrier of blackish-gray ghost qi!
There was no crisp clash of metal. There was only a teeth-grating hiss as energies violently annihilated and dissolved each other! The ghostly blue chill and blackish-gray death qi crazily collided, tore at each other, and vanished! The sinister spiritual power contained within the poisoned needle had clearly been caught off guard by this sudden Corpse Fiend Ghost Qi—also yin and evil in nature, yet fundamentally of a higher level!
Puff!
The spiritual power within the poisoned needle was ultimately limited. Under the Corpse Fiend Ghost Qi's instinctive and frenzied counterattack, the ghostly blue light flickered violently before letting out a soft crack. Like an ice crystal corroded away, it shattered inch by inch in midair and vanished! Only a few wisps of blue smoke carrying the scorched stench of sulfur remained, swiftly dispersing into the cold night wind.
The ghost qi gathered at Cheng Xi's Yintang Acupoint had also thinned considerably from the intense expenditure. It was even scattered by the poisoned needle's remaining force and temporarily retreated into the depths of his meridians. Excruciating pain came with intense dizziness. Cheng Xi's vision darkened in waves, and a sweet taste rose in his throat as another small mouthful of black blood foam overflowed from the corner of his mouth.
Surviving the disaster? No! The danger had merely shifted from his brow back to his back! Though the Corpse Fiend Ghost Qi had instinctively "saved" his life, this stress eruption was like opening floodgates, abruptly doubling the curse power's rate of erosion through his meridians! The Jianmu Fragment's vitality was instantly suppressed. Icy death qi, like countless ice needles, frantically stabbed into his internal organs!
"Urgh..." Cheng Xi could not suppress a pained groan, and his body began to tremble violently.
"Who?!" Yan Lingji was startled awake by the sudden change. She threw open her eyes. Though her flame-like gaze had dimmed, it instantly locked onto the direction from which the poisoned needle had come—from the dense canopy above their heads, swaying like ghostly shadows!
Yet the canopy was deathly silent. Only the rustling of branches and leaves in the night wind could be heard, as though that fatal ambush had merely been an illusion.
But Yan Lingji and Cheng Xi both knew it had not been an illusion. The assassin was still there! Like a venomous snake lurking in the shadows, having failed in one strike, it was ready at any moment to launch a deadlier attack. Yan Lingji struggled to rise and ignite her witchfire, but the searing pain in her shoulder and the emptiness of her spiritual power left her weak. She could only grip the Qingping Sword Sheath tightly and cautiously look around.
"Don't move... conserve your strength..." Cheng Xi's voice was hoarse like a broken bellows, every word carrying blood foam. "Use... the sword sheath... guide the sword intent... strike my back... Ghost Gate Acupoint!" After the ghost qi's stress response, the system had instantly deduced the only path to survival by combining it with the properties of the Sky-Severing Sword Intent! Use the sword intent's fierce, supremely yang nature to forcibly cleave into the ghost qi's core node! The risk was immense, with only a sliver of life amid certain death, but there was no other choice now!
Yan Lingji looked at the three blackened, festering wounds on Cheng Xi's back, wreathed in death qi, then at the sheath in her hands. Its glow was weak, yet it contained supreme sharpness. Flames rose in her eyes—the resolve to stake everything on one gamble. "Bear it!" she snapped, using every last bit of will in her whole body to once again communicate with the slumbering sword intent deep within the sheath.
This time, perhaps because his will had condensed to the extreme at the brink of life and death, or perhaps because the sheath sensed the same-origin death qi from the secluded valley within Cheng Xi's body, though it had been contaminated, that strand of Sky-Severing Sword Intent was drawn forth even more clearly than before!
Clang!
A clear sword cry sounded from within the sheath. It was no longer a weak resonant hum, but a short yet incomparably distinct declaration! A concentrated azure edge, as thin as a hair and pure to the extreme, instantly took shape at the mouth of the sheath! Though slender, it carried the Supreme Will to sever all restraints and destroy all laws!
A fierce glint flashed through Yan Lingji's eyes. Gripping the sheath with both hands, she used it as a guide to control that threadlike azure sword intent, light as gossamer yet heavier than mountains, and drove it viciously toward Cheng Xi's back—toward the Ghost Gate Acupoint! It was not a physical stab, but a strike at the law level!
Sizzle!
The instant the sword intent entered his body, Cheng Xi felt as if his soul had been thrown into a furnace! It was as though an invisible blade had forcibly cut him open from within!
"Ah—!!!"
An inhuman sound of miserable agony burst from his throat! The muscles across his whole body instantly tightened like iron, blood vessels bulging one after another as fine Blood Beads seeped from his skin! The three wounds on his back spewed out great amounts of thick, pitch-black foul blood emitting a vile stench!
[Sky-Severing Sword Intent locked onto target! Eradication in progress! Target: Corpse Fiend Ghost Qi core (curse source point)! ... Energy counterpoint! Meridian damage worsening! ... Warning! Host vital signs rapidly declining! ...]
The system's alarms and the agony ravaging his body struck at once! Cheng Xi felt his consciousness being violently torn between boundless pain and icy deathly silence. Wherever the sword intent passed, it was like a scorching hot iron pressed over frozen meridians. The bone-chilling Corpse Fiend Ghost Qi melted away like snow, but the process came with the agonizing pain of his meridians being sliced apart by the sword intent's edge! Jianmu Vitality struggled to repair his battered body through the "passage" opened by the sword intent, engaging in one last tug-of-war with the remaining ghost qi.
This was a brutally fierce war of laws fought within a tiny space!
Sweat, blood, and murky black fluid mixed together, soaking Cheng Xi through. He clenched his teeth so hard that blood seeped from his gums, forcibly swallowing the cries that followed. Only violent spasms beyond his control remained.
Yan Lingji was no better off. Controlling the sword intent consumed what remained of her focus and spiritual power. Her face was white as paper, and blood threads overflowed from the corner of her mouth, yet her eyes remained fixed on Cheng Xi's back. Her hands were as steady as stone.
Time seemed frozen. Every breath stretched as long as a year.
Finally!
The foul blood gushing from Cheng Xi's back changed from pitch-black to dark red, then finally to bright red! The heart-palpitating black rot around the edges of the three savage wounds swiftly receded. Though they were still deep enough to see bone, the flesh had regained its normal color. Under the lingering sword intent and Jianmu Vitality, the torn wounds even began to slowly writhe closed! The lingering chill of death and decayed sensation dispersed by more than half, like morning mist evaporated beneath the blazing sun!
[Corpse Fiend Ghost Qi core (curse level) eradicated: 92.3%! Remaining ghost qi has lost activity and is being purified by Jianmu Vitality... Severe meridian damage; rest required... System energy depleted to 5%...]
It worked!
The sword intent's edge slowly withdrew from Cheng Xi's body and sank back into the Qingping Sword Sheath. The light on the sheath completely dimmed, as though it had exhausted its last trace of strength. Yan Lingji could no longer hold on. Her vision went black, and she softly fell backward, unconscious, though her hands still clutched the sheath tightly.
Cheng Xi looked as though he had just been pulled from water, drenched from head to toe. He gasped for breath, each inhale bringing searing pain. Yet the icy, bone-clinging maggot-like feeling of erosion within him had finally vanished, replaced by the exhaustion of surviving disaster and the intense pain of scorched meridians. He laboriously turned to glance at the unconscious Yan Lingji. After confirming that she had merely collapsed from exhaustion, he felt somewhat relieved.
However, that relief at surviving the disaster did not even last a breath—
"Hehehe..."
A cold, ethereal chuckle carrying a strange rhythm suddenly sounded through the deathly silent forest. It was not loud, yet it seemed to ring directly within their hearts, carrying the indifference of looking down on ants and a hint of... amusement.
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